It takes more than a language to unify a nation

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Feb 24, 2007, at 8:27 AM, Judith Marie wrote:

> Hi all,
> When I voted in November in Berkeley, California, I first had to
> choose
> which language I wished to use. The choice was between Chinese,
> Korean,
> Spanish, English or Tagalog [sic].
> It seems to me not unreasonable that since only U.S. citizens vote,
> and
> that one has to pass an English language test to become a citizen, the
> ballet should be in English.

have you *read* those ballot measures and the explanatory material in
the booklets the election officials send around?  i find the english
versions very challenging.  someone who speaks english well enough to
pass the language test for citizenship and well enough to get along
in daily life is nevertheless likely to have hugely more trouble with
this material than i do.

we want our voters to be well informed about the choices they're
being asked to make.  supplying material in languages other than
english serves that end.  it's a public good.

arnold

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